Water Under The Bridge
by Sepheyr DeVarn
Summary: A Chaos Space Marine squadron returning from a raid on a burning city encounters some Tyranids. They fight. Some one wins.


Author's note:

Probably not the right fluff for the Angels of Ecstasy, but I didn't know it, and I thought the name was cool. Please, tear this story apart. It is my first submission, and a tower needs to be destroyed before it can be rebuilt right.

Brother-Sergeant Altugarath hefted his bolt pistol. They were on the way out of the city after a raid. They had enough slaves to last the depraved warriors a while, and their lord was sated. They were heading back to the lander to evac onto their cruiser.  
Altugarath looked around. Around him was the city of Ratnarot. Once great and majestic in its splendor, it was now a crumbled ruin. The Tyranids, insect like aliens, had come and taken what they could to fuel their conquest, and left little behind. The Angels Of Ecstasy had come behind them to rape and pillage the survivors.

The Angels Of Ecstasy were a traitor Space Marine legion devoted to the dark prince Slaanesh, the god of forbidden pleasures and hidden desires. They had originally been a part of the Emperor's Children legion, but had been lost to the warp before the Great Heresy. While wandering the warp, they had been shown the true way to glory by the dark prince, through depravity. Now they engaged in whatever they desired, not caring how base or ignoble their desires were.

Altugarath surveyed his squad. They made him proud. They were tight, and drilled, ready to take commands. He had drilled them in the one handed use of bolters, the explosive-round firing rifle used by the genetically enhanced warriors. They were resplendent in their pink and black armor, striding towards the bridge that led out of the city.

From the distance, he heard an inhuman shriek. Then a voice crackled in over the vox device in his helmet.  
"Sir, we have xenos contact" His lieutenant said.

"Copy. Spread out, and thin their ranks with fire as they come towards us." He replied.

It looked like all the tyranid warriors hadn't left after all.

His squad spread out along the bridge, moving to overlap firing ranges. As his field of view cleared, he could see the Tyranids racing towards them. The insect like aliens bore the black and green chitin of the Grendhal Fleet. Their scythes gleamed in the afternoon sun, and they beady eyes darted back and forth, anticipating the battle to come.

Altugarath lifted his bolt pistol. He drew a bead on the leading creature and squeezed the trigger. The xenos filth disappeared in a showed of bone and gore.

"Show them the glory of the dark prince, my brothers!" Altugarath roared over the comm link, and he was proud of the roar that answered.

All around him, warriors opened fire. 'Nids were cut down by the score, but more kept coming. That was the problem with the damn Tyranids. If one fell, four more replaced it. The bridge was slick with their black ichor, but they advanced swiftly.

Altugarathhad time for three more kills before it was time to engage in combat. He drew his chainsword in his left hand, and thumbed the activation rune. The whirring teeth started, then escalated to a roar. He swung it once to test it, and felt the familiar balance of the weapon.

Then the Tyranids were among them. Altugarath slashed left and right, hewing bone and spraying blood. The corrosive ichor steamed against his armor, but wasn't nearly strong enough to do any harm.

He ducked as a rending talon flew at him, and lopped the limb off at the joint. He finished the owner off with a bolt round, which killed the insect behind it as well. Every life wrest from its shell sent a shrill of pleasure through the marine, a boon of the daemon sentience within his chainsword. He parried a scythe and rammed the sword up to its hilt into the foolish creature.

A roar split the field. The Tyranids faltered in their attack, then slowly backed away. Altugarath used the moment to check his team. Out of the 12 accompanying him, three had fallen in the melee.

From the Tryanid lines stalked a creature of gigantic proportions. It was larger than even the genetically enhanced humans. It was a Carnifex, a living engine of death and destruction. The Tryanid equivalent to a tank, the behemoth was a ton of bone and muscle, able to smash through the armor of a Land Raider Transport with ease. These were things best avoided on the field of battle. But if they were brought down, the Tyranid force would likely scatter, as the synapse control such a creature had over them was tenuous at best.

Altugarath clicked on his vox link. "Squad, hold the line. Do not advance. I will meet this abomination alone."

Confirmations pinged back as he stepped into the no mans land between the two forces. The Carnifex stood in front of him, patient, waiting for him to make the first move.

Altugarath reached up and removed his helmet, placing it on the ground next to him.

"You wish to fight? Then let us meet, as two warriors. Man against Xenos."

The Carnifex roared, and took a step forwards.

Altugarath jumped to the side, and fired his pistol as he rolled. The round hit the beast dead on, but bounced off its bone plating. The Carnifex snarled and came down with a massive bone scythe, narrowly avoiding disemboweling the Chaos warrior. Altugarath jumped to hit feet, dropped his pistol, and came at the beast with a two-handed chainsword swing. The swing merely bounced off its bone however, being unable to penetrate its hide.

The return swing took the warrior in the chest, throwing him back a few feet. Only his ceramite armor prevented him from being pulverized.

He slowly stood. The Carnifex was looking at him with a quizzical look. Most opponents did not get up from a blow like that.

Dropped his chainsword. From his right wrist slid a long, slender needle. He smiled savagely at the pain of it exiting his arm, for pain was just another sensation to be savored in the eyes of a worshiper of Slaanesh.

The needle gave off a pink glow. For this was no normal needle. This was a Needle Of Desire, a sacred artifact of the dark prince. Depraved runes were carved along it on a microscopic level. The needle was connected to the Marines bloodstream, ready to pump the foul chemicals produced by the warrior's tainted body. Many a foe had succumbed to its caress, for the chemicals offered an ecstasy of pain that most opponents savored till they were destroyed from the inside.

Altugarath stared directly at the Carnifex, and said, "Today, you feel the pleasure of a thousand rending knives, the orgasm of death. Today your soul is claimed for the dark prince."

With that he charged. He ducked a scything blade, and rolled over a claw aimed at his head. He parried another blade with his forearm, and rammed the needle up to hit wrist into the Carnifex. Altugarath smiled sadistically as his toxins were pumped into the behemoth, overpowering even its mighty system. Blood started to pour from the beasts eyes, and fluids leaked from the cracks in its armor.

Altugarath stepped back, and the Carnifex collapsed with a shudder. He licked the needle clean of blood, and stared at the remaining Tyranids.

"Run."

And they scattered.


End file.
